Great Start to Track & Field Season!

There were some outstanding performances at the Kettering Town Harriers spring open meeting for many their track season opener, with a new Club Record and many personal best performances from the athletes showing that there is every reason to feel optimistic with the track season ahead. The conditions were absolutely ideal with warm spring sunshine, and very low wind speeds all contributing to the ideal conditions for athletics.

In the Hammer contest, the first event of the day, Katie Gibson who is fast gaining an excellent reputation, smashed her own PB & Club record set at the Kettering throws open in September to move to the top of the UK rankings, and 13th on the all-time list with a magnificent throw of 34.33 to show she is a real prospect in an event which has seen little Harriers success in recent years.

Katie Gibson Fantastic new Club Record with her 34.33m Hammer Throw

Middle Distance

With most of the squad opening with an over-distance 1 or 2km race there were some highly encouraging performances with most setting new PB’s. In the 2km race Dylan Bowley had an outstanding race to slice 27 seconds off his 2km time with a fine sub 6:00 clocking of 5.58.3, and this bodes well for the forthcoming season over his preferred 1500m. Dylan found himself at the front of the race tucked in behind Fynn Batkin, and he stretched the pace over the final lap to surge ahead of his club colleague and finish second overall in the race. Batkin, who was feeling the effects of a hard block of triathlon training recorded a marginal PB of 6:06.3, and will clearly have more to give going forward.

There was another fine opener from Emily Williams, showing she is fresh from her magnificent XC season after a short break to slice 19 seconds her 2km PB with a fine 6:31.3, and she also will be keen to impose herself over the more typical distances of 800 & 1500m over the next few weeks. There were PB’s also over 2km for Josh Cannell who had a good battle with Williams with 6:35.7. There were good strong runs for U15 Ollie Read with 7:05.1, and for U15 Ryan Raulia (7:10.2) both running their first 2km & Amy Robinson 7:50.4. Morgan Potter, Harriett Round, Claudia Nevett & Sophie Moss all had solid opening races to build upon.

Josh Cannell & Emily Williams both set impressive new PB's in season opener

In the 1km race, there was a fine openers for Tom Jawad with a super-fast 2:46.7 showing plenty of early season pace, & Edward Cannell enjoyed a strong run with 2:57.6 and there was a great start for Poppy Carmichael with a fine 3:12.3 to finish top female to show she will be a force this season. There a terrific battle between Krisztina Kurucz (3:20.3) & Lilly Carmichael (3:22.3) who both enjoyed solid opening races along with Charlotte Maywood (3:26.7). Josh Geddes had a great run to win his heat over 1km with a fine 3:13.6, which also saw Mia Brockway put in a determined display with a strong finish to surge past local rival Lucy Watts by the smallest of margins on the line with 3:27.6.

In the 800m there was a stunning debut from Jack Watson who was competing for the first time over any distance on track, leading the A race through the bell in 60 seconds to show plenty of pace before fading slightly on the back straight to finish his first ever 800m race in 2:16.6 and show he will have much more to give this season. Lucas Rogers & Alfie Frayne both set significant new PB’s with the former slicing 11 seconds off with a fine opener of 2:37.6, with Frayne knocking off 4 seconds with a fine 2:33.2. Brandon Raulia equalled his PB with an impressively fast finish with 2:27.4 suggesting big improvement over the the coming weeks!

In the younger age groups there was a fine win for U13 George Separovic in 2:45.9 just ahead of Ollie Barbosa in 2:46.9 & Rio Carr in 2:52.2. Ruby Mcleod was the sole U13 female running well with a 30 second PB with 2:58.9.

In the Longer sprints there were also some fine performances, again Jack Watson leading the way again with a swift 42.2 over 300m, with Natalie Short running well with 46.4, Jack Stephen Althorpe winning his race in 45.6, with Olivia Knibb in 51.5. Tony James ran a fine 400m setting 47.0, just 0.1 seconds outside of the Vet 40-50 club record, which he will no doubt have his eyes set on later in the season.

Sprint Squad

The Kettering Town Harrier's sprint squad began their 2017 season at two Open Meetings last weekend. It was the first opportunity for them to test how their winter training had prepared them for the season, and they didn't disappoint.

At the Kettering Open, Emmanuel Mbu in his debut sprint races, produced times of 11.7 seconds in the 100m, & 23.6 seconds in the 200m. Hot on his heels was Achim Loibl who finished with PBs' of 11.8 seconds & 23.9 seconds. Both athletes are sure to push each other to faster times as the season progresses.

Achim Loibl (left) & Emmanuel Mbu locked in battle in the 100m

Multi eventer, Lewis-Morgan Barton produced two PBs' at this meeting. In the 200m, he reduced his 200m time to 24.8 seconds, and jumped 1.65 in the high jump. He will shortly be receiving coaching from former County athlete, Canisus Alcindor, a 2.20 high jumper in his day.

A further 6 PBs' were produced by members of the squad on the day, with the remaining athletes showing form that shows they are all likely to do extremely well this season.

Further afield at the Birchfield Young Athletes Open Meeting, 5 female athletes from the squad competed in the 100m and 200m events. In the Under 15 age group, Ellen Smith & Berny Kwei-Tagoe both ran extremely well, and Ellen equalled her PB in the 100m in a time of 13.52 seconds, to win her race. Meanwhile, Berny produced a creditable PB of 13.29 in the same event, and finished 4th. Her brother, Brandon, also travelled to Birmingham to compete in the 100m, & left his opposition standing as he won his race in a time of 15.12 seconds in the Under 13 age group.

Stand out performances were produced by Erin Healy in the Under 17 women age group. She started the day by running a PB of 12.75 seconds to win a bronze medal, and followed this up with a time of 26.16 seconds in the 200m to win a joint silver medal. Alex Beale, & Annabelle Clotworthy both ran well on the day, but had the misfortune of running into headwinds in all of their races.

Well done to everyone who competed, a great start to the 2017 Track & Field season!